


==> Be Jade

by Unda



Series: It's the end of the world as we know it [24]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Breakups, Cheating, F/F, F/M, M/M, don't make deals with magical creatures, quantum mechanics jokes i'm sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-29
Updated: 2018-01-29
Packaged: 2019-03-11 01:43:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13514139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unda/pseuds/Unda
Summary: Comprises free will section ==> Be Jade in chapter 34 of MC Escher





	==> Be Jade

==> Be Jade

Luckily for you, you already are Jade! You have admit being able to lead for a change was a nice surprise, as was having Dave on your team. Being joined by Eridan, Horuss and Rufioh was less of a pleasant surprise. You don’t really know those three super well. You know the older two are sort of friends with Dirk, or at least Horuss is but they’re not exactly the kind of people you hang out with on account of them being so much older than you. As for Eridan he’s kind of snooty and pretty insular, he usually just sticks to company with the other trolls and leaves the rest of you out of it. Dave even went to school with the guy and as far as you know they never even talk. 

Still, you have Dave with you!

You fly over to his side and link arms with him. 

“If your jetpack sets my cape on fire I’ll be hella mad, Jade.” he says totally deadpan. 

“I thought it was a maaaagic cape.” you tease. 

“Don’t mean it’s inflammable.” he points out. 

“Inflammable actually means really easy to set fire to, as does flammable.” you inform him. 

“Man, fuck the English language.” Dave says with a grimace. 

“I’ll leave that to you!” you laugh. 

“Oh yeah, just leave all the heavy lifting to me, Harley. Now I gotta fuck spelling by myself, punctuation, not to mention poor sweet old grammar.” Dave drawls. 

“You’re gross!” you snort laugh and shove him in the head. He bites his lip for a second to try to hold that poker face but eventually gives in a flashes you a pleased-with-himself smile. 

It’s nice being with him. The thing is you saw the game so much before you started, flashes of it in the clouds and what you saw was a chance to finally be close to your friends. You’d wanted it so bad that you didn’t really think too hard about the consequences but it is what it is. Unfortunately it’s not shaken out how you’d thought. Between all the dying and that rough patch that Dave seems to finally be coming through he’s not had that much time for people. That and the people he has had time for have been either his family, his soulmate or his new pale boyfriend. 

You’re not jealous, (you might be a little jealous) but Dave’s your friend and if this mission means you get a chance to see him more then you’re game for it. He cranes his neck to see your planet above you. Well, it’s not above you because you’re somewhere with no real up or down but it’s at least above his head, if he was standing he’d be looking up. The pale light from the snow on your planet lights his face and there’s a flicker of the feeling that at one point you liked him.  _ Liked him _ , liked him. It wasn’t really much of anything, he’s one of your best friends and he is objectively nice to look at. Besides it’s not like you knew many people who didn’t share DNA with you so it was bound to happen. And it’s not like it was just him, you had a little thing for Rose too once. Actually, in the interests of science you should really interview people and see if there is anyone your age who didn’t at one point have a thing for one or both of the twins. Though you never had a thing for John, perhaps because he doesn’t look too different from pictures of Jake when he was the same age and your brain just noped out of that. 

“Hey.” you say quietly and Dave looks back at you again.

“How’re things with Karkat?” you ask. 

“They’re…” Dave smiles a little dumbly and then seems to shake it off, “they’re great. Why, have you heard different?”

“No, dummy. Just things are so crazy right now and Karkat seems a little…” you try to use your hands to convey the way that sleep deprived and on edge Karkat seemed when he was ordering all of you to be leaders. 

“Yeah, I feel ya. But he’ll be fine. How’s things with you anyway? It’s been forever since we’ve just chilled.” he sighs. 

“Good thing we’re going to my planet then, huh?” you shoot back with a grin. 

“BLUGH, no one said there would be bad jokes on this mission I’m out.” Dave gags. 

“Get back here. But no, I’m good. Trying to treat this whole thing like an adventure instead of-” you say.

“The extinction of our species?” Dave fills in for you. 

“That, I guess. It’s just all so much without all that extra stuff.” You say slowly. 

“Like soulmates? That why you asked about Kar?” Dave asks. You shrug. 

“I’m just leaving the whole soulmate thing until we’re done or until it feels not crazy. It’s enough watching our dumb brothers fall over each other like idiots.” that last part makes you groan in despair. It’s not that hard, dummies!

“It’s amazing how two people can try so hard and be so invested and manage to completely miss what the other one is about so much. I’ve never seen Dirk suck so hard at anything before.” Dave snorts. 

You both land in the snow and consider his last words. 

“I vote that we both ignore Freud slipping and sliding back there and go with what I meant rather than-” Dave says slowly. 

“Agreed.” you say quickly, because that’s gross. 

Eridan lands in the snow behind you and not too long after him Rufioh and Horuss do as well. You put your conversation with Dave on pause and address the group, your group. 

“My consorts told me before that we were supposed to look for frogs, something to do with making a new universe for after the game. So I guess we just start looking.” you say, holding your arms out to gesture to the snowy expanse of white. 

“Aren’t frogs pretty cold blooded? It’d make sense for them to hide somewhere warmer like in the trees.” Rufioh says, pointing off to the treeline. 

“I will, accompany you. For safety.” Horuss adds quickly. 

“Ok then, we’ll search around here! Sound good, guys?” you ask, looking at Dave and Eridan. They both shrug in vague agreement and the older guys tromp off into the woods. 

“Maybe we need to brush the snow away, the frogs could be frozen.” Dave theorizes, he’s floating above the snow with his legs crossed. 

“I’m sure we have some brooms and rakes up at the house, come on.” you urge and lead the way up there. 

“Hey, Eridan, are you gonna be okay in cold weather like this? Aren’t you cold blooded?” Dave asks. Oh no, you hadn’t thought of that but surely Karkat would have when he put your team together. But then he didn’t know where you were going so maybe not. 

“I’m not a goddamn lizard, Dave. Seatrolls are adapted for life in the ocean which is, obviously, cold. Not that I ever have lived in the ocean and not like this cold and dry air is anything like that but, no, I’ll be fine.” Eridan sneers. 

You bound up the last parts of the hill with speed and pull the door open. Dave rushes inside right away, his poor Texan constitution clearly not prepared for this kind of thing. Eridan tromps in a moment after, tracking snow inside. 

“I have a hat and gloves you could borrow if you want, it used to get really cold on my island at night or in a winter storm so we were prepared.” you offer but Eridan shakes his head. 

“Didn’t you two used to go to school together? Did you have any of the same classes?” you ask as you lean into the tool cupboard and find a broom, a shovel and a rake. 

“Uhhh.” Dave says. 

“Spanish, I think? I was in the back but we never hung out.” Eridan says uncertainty, as if he’s not sure that it was Dave in class with him or some other blonde boy. You look at them both and consider that Karkat seems pretty friendly with the guy but otherwise this just seems like a case of them not being friends but just having someone in common. 

“Choose your weapon!” you say, holding out the three tools. Dave takes the broom and Eridan takes the rake. You all head back outside again and Eridan breaks off mostly on his own, you feel a little bad about that but maybe you can hang out with the guy more later. You have all day after all!

“Hey Jade, check it out maybe I’m a witch of time. I should tell Damara.” Dave chuckles and you look around to see him floating in the air and holding the broom so that it looks like he’s flying on it. 

“Well, you know what she’d think about that.” you say slowly and surreptitiously gather a snowball in hand as Dave ‘flies’ around on his broom. 

“What’s that then?” he asks just as you smack him right in the middle of the face with a snowball. Dave yelps and falls into the snow like a sack of potatoes. 

He sits up, shaking the snow from his hair and wiping it off of his shades. 

“Harley, this means war.” Dave says seriously. 

There’s a solid half hour or so of the two of you chasing each other around, throwing snowballs or even whole shovelfuls of snow at each other. One time you dig a little too deep and heft a clump of dirt at him too which mostly brings the whole thing to an end. 

“So, can I ask you something?” you ask Dave as he gargles water and spits it on the ground, you guess you got some dirt in his mouth too. 

“Gonna throw dirt at me and ask me for a favour, huh? You schoolyard bully. You gonna do me like that?” Dave snorts and takes off his shades to clean them on his shirt. 

“It’s not a favour. I- hey did you ever get bullied at school?” you ask curiously

“Hm? Nah. Before I met Karkat I never even talked to anyone at school and everyone just ignored me which was what I wanted.” Dave answers. He’s squinting against the light reflected off of the snow as he cleans his shades. 

“Why was that?” you ask and you watch a brief expression flit across Dave’s face, the kind he gets when he’s coming up with a lie on the fly. You listen, though, because often the way he lies tells you just as much as the truth would have. 

“Well obviously before then I was the coolest kid at the school, no one could compete so it’d be a let down. When we all moved back to Texas after New York shit was different, still the coolest obvs but spread out between more people. Plus Karkat wouldn’t shut up whether I talked or not so I might as well.” Dave answers and slides his glasses back on. 

That doesn’t answer the question of whether people picked on him at his new school or not, maybe there’s something there or maybe there isn’t. Hmm. 

In your pocket you feel the ping of a new message and obviously multiple other places about your person because only a fool carries less than five computers, so you take your phone out and have a look. 

[ectoBiologist began pestering gardenGnostic]

EB: jade i need your help stat!

GG: :O

GG: what for?

EB: rose is still being a butt and i wanna work out if her and dave fighting is her fault or his or what.

GG: hmm you want me to ask dave?

EB: yeah but be subtle, you know?

GG: on it!

“What’s going on between you and Rose? Everyone knows you’re fighting but…” 

That was subtle, right?

“Did Rose ask you to fix it or something?” Dave asks coldly. Ok, not subtle. 

“No, me and John are just worried about the two of you. It’s not like you to fight like this.” you tell him. 

“Just- don’t worry about it. There’s nothing you can do. Where’s my fucking broom?” Dave mumbles and floats off until he finds his fallen broom again. He starts sweeping at lumps of snow in case they’re frogs. 

“Well, what happened? Maybe we can help, you don’t know.” you say as you follow him because you’re not giving up so easy. 

“You can’t help.” Dave says firmly his gaze is glued to the ground rather than to you. 

“You don’t know that!” you argue, chasing after him. 

“You didn’t-” Dave sucks in a breath through clenched teeth and tries again. 

“We died. I’d always thought Bro would end up killing me one day and I was right I didn’t think it could still happen after he died and I didn’t think he’d take Rose out with me. Being dead for so long sucked and ok in parts it was easier than this because the worst has already happened, what else can go wrong? And I wasn’t alone, I had her. Then we came back and everything sucked in different ways and was better in different ways. It jacked us both up, I know that.” Dave explains. 

You don’t say anything and let him continue. 

“But I’m starting to feel better and she’s just getting worse and I know she can be an asshole when you push her on things that she doesn’t wanna talk about. I know I can too. But there’s- she can’t just throw whatever she wants at my face. She’s not even sorry either and now she’s spending all this time with  _ Vriska _ of all people instead of me! I went through what she did, I tried to help, I’m one of her best friends, her brother, her fucking TWIN and she-” Dave shakes his head sharply. 

“Dave…” you say slowly coming close to him. 

“Don’t make me talk to her, you can’t. If she wants to stop being a bitch and apologise she knows where I am or failing that fucking Pesterchum but she doesn’t want to so she’s not!” he adds angrily. 

He’s still floating so you reach out and hug him around the middle. He jumps a little in your grip and then just kind of melts until he’s got his arms wrapped around you and his face in your hair. That last part may not be deliberate for him, you do have a lot of hair!

Dave eventually pulls away mumbling something about frogs so you figure you should probably contact John again. Things are more serious than you had thought!

GG: dave wont tell me what rose said but he was apparently trying to help her feel better and she did something really cruel

EB: it’s gotta be bad if he won’t say though, right? i mean normally he’d be whining to us about it.

GG: he still seems really upset by it

GG: ive never seen them fight like this

EB: me neither

You settle into your frog hunt, occasionally straying close to Eridan who seems personally offended by all of this. 

“Wasn’t your island tropical? Why do you get snow everywhere?” he bitches. 

“I guess it wouldn’t be so much of a challenge if it stayed the same.” You reason.

“But it sucks and there’s no frogs here.” Eridan whines, his earfins flattening petulantly. 

You look around at the torn up hillside, there’s tracks through the snow all over and little holes swept, raked and dug into the snow. You’re not finding frogs. Distantly you hear Dave yelp in alarm and then watch as several pieces of grist fly up into the air around the brow of the hill and land again. 

“I’m cool!” he shouts back to you. 

“Yeah, right.” Eridan snorts. 

“Maybe we’re just looking in the wrong place. Rufioh and Horuss might have had more luck finding them in the woods.”

“Psh, doubt it. I keep hearing them giggling in there together.” Eridan grumbles and kicks at some snow. 

“Well if we’re going to move we should find them and let them know.” you say sensibly. Besides, this planet has challenges for you in places on it, it’s not your comparatively harmless island no matter how much it may look like it. 

You shout for Dave and he returns to your side, still halfassing the snow sweeping as he flies over. He’s looking pretty chilly with his short god tier sleeves but if he’s going to be silly enough to not change then that’s his lookout. 

“Hey, so we’re going to go track down Horuss and Rufioh because it looks like there aren’t any frogs around here.” you explain, gesturing to the searched space around you. 

“We may as well just follow their footprints or whatever.” Eridan says, his voice warbling in that strange way it does, you wonder if it’s because he has gills in his throat. 

The three of you set off towards the tree line, following the footprints of the older guys. Dave is still floating along which makes you a little irked that he doesn’t have to work so hard. Then again you don’t know if flying uses calories just as much as walking does, he could be just as tired as you at the end of the day. 

There’s almost no snow on the ground here but you know how to look at the underbrush in a forest and track things. You feel a pang when you think that you used to have to look for Bec this way sometimes when he was determined to do what he wanted and not come back. It stings to think about and you feel guilty for that because though he was the very best dog several of your friends have lost their parents so you can hardly complain. His sprite is just not the same. 

Eridan smacks you in the arm and points through a clearing between a few trees. 

“Oh God, oh God, oh God.” comes a soft whine and for a moment you assume pain, that one of them is hurt. It’s only when you catch sight of Rufioh pressing Horuss to the trunk of a tree that you realise that it’s not pain you’re hearing here. 

“Pity you.” one of them says softly. 

You stare in shock as his giant fairy wings flutter and Horuss’ claws cling to Rufioh’s jacket. They kiss and- oh goodness you can see where Rufioh’s hand is going and GROSS. You spin around on your foot and drag the boys away, Dave looks genuinely angry. 

“That motherfucker!” He hisses as you pull them both back out of the forest. 

“He said ‘pity you’, that wasn’t pitch.” Eridan agrees. 

“What the fuck!” Dave says, throwing his hands in the air. 

“What am I missing here?” you ask, waving a hand between them. 

“Rufioh is dating Damara flush, if that’d been a pitch fling there’d be no problem but that was clearly flush. He’s cheating on her.” Eridan answers quickly, apparently quick with the gossip. 

“I  _ like _ Damara, she doesn’t deserve that. She’s gonna be so mad.” Dave adds with a frown. 

“So don’t tell her, it’s not like it’s your problem.” Eridan argues. 

“Are you kidding me? She’s my friend and my fellow time player, I trust her and she’s supposed to trust me. Besides, if anyone I was dating was cheating on me I’d want to know.” Dave argues. 

You really can’t imagine Karkat cheating on him ever, they’re soulmates and he’s clearly far too smitten. You don’t know about Sollux, though, or indeed what cheating would be in that relationship. Like would you and Dave talking about Rose earlier and you giving him a hug be pale cheating? You don’t get it. Still, you see Dave’s point. 

“She’s going to shoot the messenger, do you really want to be the messenger?” Eridan snorts. 

“Ok, before this turns into an argument how about we go indoors and get warm, eat some lunch and Dave you can pester Damara or call her. Sound good?” you ask because you can sense the brewing argument between the boys. You don’t know if it’s just the promised warmth and food or what but they both nod silently and follow you into the house.

Like the others who shared houses with other players yours is weirdly split in two. In your half on your planet is your room, the greenhouse, rooms with your family’s stuff and so on. Jake got the kitchen in his half but you’ve alchemised enough stuff so that one section of the greenhouse is suitable for making and eating food. 

Dave hunts down mismatched chairs as you get Eridan to put out plates. You slice through some bread that you made the other day into thick slices for hearty sandwiches. Dave returns with chairs and from the expression of focus on his face you’d guess that he’s drafting a message to Damara. 

“So, Eridan,” you say because you should really get to know him better, “how’re you finding the game?”

“It seems pretty pointless to me and the classpect stuff is absurd as well.” he grouses. 

You consider briefly that day when Karkat had you group up by class. You had rather enjoyed your day with Feferi and Damara but you recall Dirk saying that he’d sooner chew his own arm off than spend another day questing with the other princes. Perhaps that feeling was mutual. 

“You’re the same aspect as Jake, right? Hope?” you ask. 

“Yeah but expecting things to work just because you believe in them super hard is stupid and pathetic.” Eridan retorts. Right, he’s a prince and they’re destructive.

Maybe you should just stop trying to force conversation and let it flow naturally, because thus far your feeling is that Eridan has all of the charisma of a wet sock in the middle of a long hike which is to say that he’s gross and chafing.

You should forge on with lunch then. You finally have enough bread sliced so drinks are the next order of business and someone at this table could stand to help out more. Picking up the kettle you find it empty and hand it to Dave so that he can go to the sink and refill it. You spread peanut butter on the toast and then glance up at Eridan.

“You’re not allergic are you? Only the first time I made peanut butter from peanuts on the island I nearly killed Jake, thankfully we had adrenaline shots around.” you ask, waving the knife at him. 

“No, I’m not.” Eridan says and bites into a kiwi that was in the fruit bowl without even bothering to remove the skin. You suppose it’s no obstacle to teeth as sharp as his. 

“Pass me the bananas please. Do uh… do you miss Earth?” you ask, trying to keep the conversation going. You broke your resolution but the silence was just too awkward. 

“A little, but I miss Alternia too and I never even went there.” Eridan sighs, handing you the fruit. 

“You miss a place you never went to?” you ask peeling a banana and slicing it. 

“Yeah, don’t get me wrong the hemospectrum is bullshit. Or mostly bullshit. Like  _ generally _ highbloods have worse tempers and  _ generally _ if you have psionics you’re a lowblood etcetera, etcetera. But we’re not better, I don’t think that. But that doesn’t change the fact that if I’d hatched on Alternia instead of Earth I would have been filthy stinkin’ rich and no one’d tell me what to do all the time.” he whines. 

“But you’d still be ruled by a dictator and probably have to join her huge space army.” you point out, arranging the banana slices on the peanut butter topped bread. 

“True, but people wouldn’t stare at me on the streets for having fins and gills.” he argues. 

“Ah. Didn’t have any streets on my island, can’t really relate but it sounds tough. Neither place is perfect, but maybe if we win this we will make somewhere that is.” you say hopefully. Eridan just grunts miserably. 

Across the room you hear Dave’s phone ping and you turn to see the displeased thin line that his lips press themselves into. 

“What?” you ask. 

“Rose is messaging me.” he says, leaning against the sink. 

“Well look at it! Maybe she’s apologising!” you say, waving your butter knife at him. He mutters something defamatory under his breath but does click on his screen. 

You watch as the displeased set of his mouth shifts to soft surprise, how his shoulders relax. He types a little and then there’s that quiet huff of breath that Dave does instead of laughing out loud sometimes. You hate Bro for a lot of things but making Dave suppress his own delight at anything without even consciously choosing to do that is something that really pisses you off. Still, he looks happy. You wonder what John did to talk Rose around. 

GG: i think they made up!

GG: dave got a message from her and he looks so much happier now what did you do?

EB: nothing much, i just talked her out of being a dumbass. 

GG: aw well good job i hate when any of us fight

EB: me too

“Are you gonna bring me that kettle then mister?” you ask teasingly and Dave groans in faux protest but picks the full thing up again and starts walking back to you. 

“Have you got actual tea, then?” Eridan asks. 

“A few kinds, mostly just herbal because we didn’t have tea plants growing on the island but we got sent stuff sometimes and Rose and Kanaya have shared their stashes with me since so let me see..” you trail off as you open your little cupboard under the table, it no longer houses seedlings but instead now tasty food. 

A loud clang behind you makes you jump and you turn to see Dave, the kettle is at his feet spilling water everywhere. His right hand is clutched to his left arm and he stumbles backwards, gasping in like he can’t breathe. He crumples to the floor like a dropped toy and for a single stupid moment you think that you’ve sent someone else into anaphylaxis with peanut butter until you remember that he’s not even eaten any. 

Dave screams. 

It’s worse than any scream you’ve ever heard in any movie, more raw and real. It feels like the loudest thing you’ve ever heard. 

“Dave!” you shout and rush to him. You try to grab him, to roll him on his back and see where he’s hurt, to see how you can help. He flails when you touch him, kicking out blindly. His heel connects with your nose and you fall back, hand to your face and seeing stars. 

He’s still screaming, curling in on himself as he tries to scream, gasp for breath and sob all at once. You wipe the blood away, ignore the pain and crawl over again. 

“What’s wrong with him?!” Eridan shouts. 

You look down at Dave and see the black spreading up his arm like a wave of squid ink. His soulmark. Karkat. 

You whip your phone out on instinct. 

[gardenGnostic began pestering carcinoGeneticist] 

GG: karkat you had better not be dead!

GG: dave is just curled up in a ball right now screaming and i tried to help but he kicked me!

You stare down at Dave who has started sobbing Karkat’s name, the screaming giving way to crying. His shades are shoved halfway up his head from rolling around on the floor. His arm is getting blacker, it’s almost all gone. Of course he’s dead. But… well, Dave died and he’s alive again. 

GG: you had better be coming back to life! i can see how black his arm has gone so you better be on a quest bed buster

“Dave, he’s not alone. Someone will- he can go god tier like you. Someone can put him on his bed.” you try to assure him. 

“He’s gone, he’s- nothing will ever… Karkat.” Dave sobs incoherently. Your phone buzzes.

EB: jade?

GG: oh god i have to go i think karkat is dead!!!

EB: WHAT

You stroke Dave’s hair and look at his arm, it’s not changing back. You’ve got to try something else. You can’t wait around here all day, you need to go find Karkat. If his whole team is dead you need to throw him on his quest bed as well as whoever else was in his team. Damnit you really wish you’d paid attention to that so you knew who would be of help. 

[gardenGnostic began pestering grimAuxiliatrix]

GG: kanaya are you with karkat?!

GA: No I Was Not In His Group Why Do You Want To Know

GA: I Really Do Hope That This Is Important Because Things Are Quite Tense Here And I Cannot Really Afford To Be Messaging You No Matter How Pleasant I Find It To Talk To You Normally

GG: it really is important karkat is dead!

GA: What

GG: im with dave and his arm has gone back and hes just screaming and crying karkat has to be dead

GA: I

GG: im sorry i didnt mean to tell you like that i hoped you were with him to get him on a quest bed but i dont know who else was with him and maybe we should just go and find him and put him on his quest bed if no one else has

GA: Please Do

You look down at Dave again and chew your lip, you’re doing this if no one else will. You open your chat to Karkat again, hoping that he will have answered but he hasn’t.

GG: karkat we are really worried!!!

GG: screw it we are coming to find you

“Stay here.” You order Eridan and hastily pull your jetpack on. You grab Dave by the middle and haul him up against you. You launch into flight and at least have the forethought to shoot the glass window before you fly through it. 

You know which way Karkat’s planet is and you’re going there right now, so help you there will be blood if their whole team is-

Dave gasps against you and squirms away like a cat. You stop and stare at him as he looks down at his arm, the black on it is receding. 

“He must have got to a quest bed.” you guess. Dave sniffs and nods, seemingly unwilling to take his eyes off of his arm in case it goes back the other way again. A message finally comes through to you. 

CG: NO IT’S FINE I’M ALIVE!

CG: OH GOD I’M SO SORRY IS HE OK?

Is he okay?! You’ve never seen Dave cry like that and you’ve got half a mind to strangle Karkat for even putting him through that!

GG: absolutely not but message him yourself!!!

[gardenGnostic ceased pestering carcinoGeneticist] 

“We should keep going, I need…” Dave says croakily but you get it, he needs to see that Karkat’s really okay. They’re messaging each other as he goes. 

“I told Kanaya, I should tell her he’s ok again.” you think aloud and Dave nods in agreement, wiping at his eyes so he doesn’t look so much of a mess. 

GG: kanaya its jade

GA: I Can See That Did You Find Karkat Please Tell Me You Found Him

GG: we arent there yet but he messaged me back he is alive and well again but we are still going there because he really freaked dave out

GA: Oh Thank God I Think I Need A Sit Down After That

GG: would it be stepping on your toes to strangle him a little for hurting dave that badly?

GA: Dave And Rose Have Still Died More Than Karkat Or I Have So Really I Think That He Cant Complain At Karkat Too Much

GA: I Would Still Rather That You Not Strangle My Moirail But I Am Not Sure That Doing So Would Be Stepping On My Toes As Much As It Would Be Sollux And His Toes Seeing As Your Motivation Is Revenge For Pain Caused To Dave

GA: But Given As I May Well Strangle Sollux And Mituna For Not Informing Me Of Their Brothers Death Which They Certainly Heard I Do Not Think That Will Be An Issue

GG: sometimes i find it hard to tell when you are joking

GA: I Am Mostly Joking

GA: If I Was All The Way Joking I Could Include A Fun Emote Like This To Show You

GA: ;)

GG: but you just said you were mostly joking…

GA: Yes So This Will Do 

GA: ;

GG: youre not gonna strangle dave for not telling you are you?

GA: Hardly After All I Remember What He Has Just Been Through And How It Felt When It Happened To Me I Was Hardly Thinking Of Writing A Group Memo

GG: ok im gonna go we are nearly there

GA: Thank You

[gardenGnostic ceased pestering grimAuxiliatrix]

Dave looks at the rising orb of Kankri’s planet and frowns. 

“How did we get here so fast? It’s been less than two minutes.” Dave says slowly. 

“I don’t know, we just flew fast I guess?” you shrug. 

“No, I know how long it takes to get places, time it’s my thing. I know how fast your jetpack goes and it can’t do that distance in this time.” Dave insists. 

You twist around to look in the direction you know your planet to be, you can’t even see it anymore. Or not as more than a little dot anyway. 

“Did you do a space thing? Make the distance shorter?” Dave asks, looking at you intently. 

“I don’t know. I didn’t mean to do anything.” you tell him. 

“Well I ain’t complaining.” Dave shrugs. 

You probably shouldn’t know where Karkat is, no one actually told you to go to Kankri’s planet. No one said where he was. But you just… know. You don’t think it’s the same way that Rose knows things. It’s more like… he’s in a place and places are space and space is your thing, right? Did you get enough escheladder points to have vague knowledge of the locations of your friends in emergencies? 

You swoop down low to see Karkat and Kankri stood on their quest bed, Sollux and Mituna are right by it and so is your stupid brother. Goddamnit you could have just messaged  _ him _ if you’d known! 

Karkat snarls angrily and throws his hands forward. Chains fly out from some place in his palms and ensnare two super sized shrimp things. He yanks them forward sharply so they’re dragged through the crowd and Dave makes a sound that suggests his thoughts might be less than PG right now. You shoot him a look and waggle your eyebrows at him. He shoves you away by the shoulder. 

“That was so cool!” you call out as you and Dave land. Not that Dave stays on the ground for more than a split second, as soon as Karkat turns to look at you in his knight outfit and fluttery red wings Dave launches himself at him like human cannonball. 

You figure you’ll leave those dumb boys to each other and walk over to your dumb boy of a brother. 

“Hey.” you say. 

“Hey, how’s your day going? Anyone in your group died horribly as you failed to protect them?” he asks miserably. 

“It’s not like Mituna and Kankri are my age and need you babysitting them. Not that  _ I _ need you babysitting me either but you know what I mean.” you point out. 

“Yeah but Karkat and Kankri died.” Jake says. 

Kankri is currently lecturing one of the consorts, he’s dressed like Rose. He’s a seer, he would be. Dave looks stupidly relieved and Karkat seems both guilty and delighted to see him. 

“It all seems fine now. I think sometimes this game just makes people die like this to progress, like it’s thinking.” you say. It makes sense, there’s a certain destiny to everything. Not in the way that leaves you no choice but more like a groove that things fall back into. 

“You think this was always going to happen?” Jake asks with an uncertain frown. 

“I think having two more god tiers will make any other fights we have to get into easier. Not that I’m wishing people to die but… I think this kinda stuff just happens.” you tell him, wrapping him in a sidelong hug. 

“I guess there’s nothing I can do about it now anyway. But you stay safe, you hear?” he urges you, ruffling your hair. 

“Of course I will! I’m am a seasoned and trained adventurer!” you say brightly and finally Jake grins. 

“Trained by the best!” he agrees and fingerguns at you. 

“Yeah, and you as well!” you tease. 

“You rat!” Jake laughs, swiping for you. You duck back, then dart back in again to give him a final squeeze around the middle hard enough to make him go ‘oof’ when you do it and then you run back to Dave. 

“Come on, Dave. We gotta go. We shouldn’t leave Eridan unsupervised on my planet for too long.” you say, linking arms with Dave as you put your jetpack on. 

“Wait, unsupervised? What about the rest of your team?” Jake asks worriedly. 

“Oh, it’s so gross. Rufioh and Horuss just ditched us to make out with each other in the woods.” you tell him with a grimace. Really those boys have no discretion just getting it on in the woods near your home like that! Blugh! 

“Oh no.” Kankri says, his hand over his mouth.

“Oh fuck.” Sollux agrees.

“Damara is going to murder them all.” Mituna adds. Dave looks really not pleased about  _ that _ . 

“That… that wasn’t supposed to happen. I may have made a terrible mistake.” Karkat whispers in horror. 

“Well, we’re gonna go. Don’t get hurt again, okay?” Dave reminds Karkat as he floats up a little. 

“I’ll try, I’m sorry.” Karkat nods. 

With that done you fly up into the sky with Dave and back towards your planet. Dave doesn’t seem to be taking his eyes off of your planet, even when he talks to you. 

“I really need to talk to Damara.” he sighs. 

“Do you really think she’s going to kill them, though?” you ask. Trolls can be quite quick to violence, or so you’ve heard. 

“I doubt it, but she’ll be really angry. She’ll be madder still if she finds out people knew and didn’t tell her though so I gotta.” he tells you. When you land outside your house he frowns at you. 

“See, that trip took three times as long and you were still at your max speed. You did something to the space.” he accuses you. 

“Maybe you did something to time.” you shoot back, shouldering the door open and walking to the teleporter with him. 

“No, I know when people have been messing with time and I didn’t.” he denies. 

You both arrive back in the greenhouse to see Eridan sitting on a table eating the peanut butter and banana sandwiches you made. He’s patched the hole in the greenhouse roof with plastic. 

“Oh, Eridan, thank you for fixing that.” you thank him gratefully. You’ll probably still need to replace it with glass, that is unless you are able to move all of your plants to the ship. They must have a way of growing food there for long space journeys surely. 

“Well we’re not sure if alchemised food gives you everything you need yet, I’d rather not get scurvy or something in the future.” he says with a shrug and Dave picks up a sandwich of his own, checks it for fallen glass and then bites into it.

“Is Karkat okay then?” Eridan asks. Dave tries to answer around his sandwich but it seems to just stick to the roof of his mouth and he has no way of being understood. 

“Yeah, he came back to life on his quest bed, Kankri too.” you tell him and watch his earfins perk up. 

“Good, they’re good people.” he nods and bites into the last of his sandwich. 

“Jade you make weirder sandwiches than me and I used to be a total scavenger as a kid.” Dave says now that his mouth is clear again. 

“What’s the weirdest you ever made?” you ask curiously and start your own lunch. 

“Gummy bears that I’d found under the sofa, marshmallow fluff both cooked with a blowtorch and then… I think I threw jelly on that too.” Dave says uncertainly. 

“This isn’t weirder than that.” Eridan says flatly. 

Dave shrugs and you turn your attention to your phone as it pings in your skirt again. It’s all happening today. 

[arsenicCatnip began trolling gardenGnostic]

AC: :33 < um hey jade can i talk to you?

Your back straightens in surprise. You don’t actually talk to your soulmate much, it’s a little awkward but you do like her. It’s just, well you’re not doing anything about it right now but if she wants to talk you should say something. You swallow the last of your sandwich and wipe your hands on a nearby rag which probably just added more dirt to your hands than made them cleaner. 

GG: of course whats up?

AC: :33 < your planet has a volcano on it still, right? just like your island used to?

GG: it does but why do you want to know?

GG: not that you should get lost or anything or how dare you ask but it just seems like a strange thing to suddenly want to know!

GG: sorry that came across a little wrong!

AC: :33 < oh no! it's fine i didn't think you meant anything bad by it or anything.

AC: :33 < i was just asking beclaws we have some rings we n33d to destroy in a volcano and yours is apparently magical!

GG: like in lord of the rings?

AC: :33 < yeah! your denizen is supposed to be down there too. so i just wanted to ask your apurroval to do that.

GG: oh yeah sure no problem, we’ll even come with you its not like we have had any luck on my quest. 

GG: honestly this whole leader thing has been a mess on my end. who was your leader?

AC: :33 < tavros is our leader and i suppose we were successful but also hal got his wing shot off by a trap. he's feline fine now though don't worry!

GG: oh gosh! well you can come down here whenever you like and if you meet me at my house i can show you the best way up there

AC: :33 < oh wow! thanks, i'm not going to turn that offer down. we're on our way over now!

“All I’m saying is that it wasn’t thought out.” Dave insists, apparently there was a conversation going on while you weren’t paying attention. 

“The books ARE thought out! They have explanations for how all kinds of things work, including invention of new magic spells!” Eridan argues. 

“Ok, yeah, but it could have been a one book thing. All you needed was for some kid from a non magical family to go off the grounds, google ‘how to make a bomb’ and then keep that shit on hand for when Voldemort shows up. No guns needed, my point still stands!” Dave retorts. 

“Are we talking about Harry Potter here?” you ask, feeling like this may have gone on a while. 

“Yes! Obviously and tell him he’s wrong!” Eridan demands. 

“They don’t even have lightbulbs! They won’t know how to check for a bomb and you can make that shit with stuff in your kitchen.” Dave says, waving the last of his sandwich at Eridan. 

“I’m not getting into the middle of that. Look, we need to get the others together. Nepeta and her team or I guess Tavros’ team are coming here, we have to go to the volcano.” you say. 

“I’ll message them.” Eridan sighs and takes his phone out and starts typing away. 

“I should really think of what I’m going to message Damara.” Dave says glumly. 

“Maybe you could ask Dirk for advice? He’s good with political stuff, or Karkat?” you suggest. 

“Yeah, but I don’t want it to be like I’m gossiping about it behind her back. I should just say it.” he says, turning his phone around and around in his hands but not actually typing anything. 

You clear the lunch things away, leaving them in the sink for later and usher the boys outside as Dave writes and re-writes his message. It’s all for naught as he’s not sent anything by the time Nepeta and the others arrive and it turns out that Damara is with Tavros, Nepeta, Aradia and Equius. 

“Oh shit.” Dave hisses between clenched teeth as the others land. 

“Hi Jade! Where are the others?” Nepeta asks curiously as she lands on the ground, her jetpack has a cat face on and you can’t help but fine that endearing. 

“HiDamzIneedtotalktoyouoverherenow.” Dave says quickly as he can and drags a startled Damara away. 

“This is going to go so badly.” Eridan says under his breath and you all watch as Dave quietly gestures to his phone and then continues talking in a hushed tone, eventually gesturing at the woods. 

Damara’s expression goes through, shock and then into disbelief. 

“You must be wrong!” she shouts and Eridan winces. 

Dave’s speech is quiet and he gestures vaguely to the two of you. 

“Oh gee thanks, Dave.” Eridan mutters as Damara whips around to look at you. 

“Is this true? Did you really see?!” Damara demands loudly. 

“What’s happening?” Aradia whispers. 

“I’m sorry, but Dave’s right about what we saw.” you confirm unhappily. 

Damara starts cursing loudly in a language that you don’t speak but she sounds exceedingly angry. Aradia winces, evidently she understands. 

“Rufioh and Horuss? Really? Oh boy.” Aradia says with a grimace. 

“Oh snap, I warned Karkat about that.” Nepeta says cringing as she speaks. 

“You would have rathered that he shifted the groups around to avoid this?” Equius asks. 

“Well this wouldn’t have happened then would it?” Nepeta reasons. 

“If you can’t trust your partner to be somewhere without you and remain faithful it is a poor relationship.” Equius intones seriously. 

“That’s a good point.” you agree. 

“Yeah, Equius, you’re right.” Nepeta nods. 

You watch as Dave catches Damara’s attention again and apologises, his voice no longer so quiet. 

“I would just want to know if it was me, I’m sorry.” he says earnestly. 

“Is no- don’t worry, not your fault. Thank you for telling. Men are scum, you are only good one. Thank.” Damara says, her English slipping as it seems to when she’s angry. She takes Dave’s face in her hands and kisses his forehead. 

Damara lets Dave go and turns and marches off down the snowy hill towards the woods. 

“Damara wait! Don’t go!” Dave shouts but Damara ignores him and keeps walking. 

“You don’t think she’ll actually kill them, right?” you ask, looking at the others. Aradia and Nepeta look at each other and make a face. 

“Ehh, it depends what they say.” Aradia says, seesawing her hand in the air uncertainly. 

“Suddenly I feel less sure that was the right thing to do. Do I have lipstick on my forehead?” Dave asks, walking back to you and rubbing his face. He absolutely does. 

“No.” you lie, looking him right in the eye. 

“Well, um, we have some rings to throw in your volcano.” Tavros says, sounding as uncertain as he always does. 

“Right! Of course, there’s a ledge that you could stand on pretty well. I hiked up there and threw things in sometimes back home too. Come on, I’ll show you.” you say and pull your jetpack onto your shoulders for what feels like the thousandth time today. 

Everyone else who can’t fly through game magic takes to the skies with their own transport. It doesn’t take all that long to get up to the volcano, nor to get to the ledge that you spoke of. It’s hard to pick out from the air but a lot of the rest of the lip of the volcano is crumbly and dangerous but this bit is solid. Still, you’re a little worried with all these people that it’s not going to hold you all. 

“Aw, yes!” Aradia cheers and lobs a coconut into lava which bursts like popcorn and catches fire. 

“That seems like a waste of good melting.” Dave observes. 

Tavros is talking, holding the rings up and discussing something with the others and you can still hear him but it’s like the volume got turned way down. Or more like the way that you can watch a movie with your brother but when he leans over to whisper something about the plot in your ear you can hear him instead of it even though he’s technically quieter. 

It’s not words, not as such. Like ideas that didn’t bother going through words and just slammed right into your brain but not so violent as that. It’s a feeling, you feel the same way as when you’re swimming out in the ocean and you duck your head under to look down and see how very far apart the sandy bed and your feet are. That feeling of vertigo even though it’s impossible to fall. The sensation of being something small in something very VERY big. 

“Give them to me.” Comes out of your mouth without permission from your brain. 

Tavros is talking, frowning. The rings are in his hand and then they’re in yours. He looks confused like he didn’t give them to you but they’re in your hand so you must have been given them. It just… makes sense. 

Look, you’re starting to feel quite strange as it happens. 

“Jade?” Nepeta asks, her hand on your arm. 

You look at her in surprise. 

“Oh.” you say before the floor even rumbles, before it gives out and sends those of you who can’t fly plummeting down and those who can flying down to save you all. 

You land all in one big heap with a groan, much swearing and awkward untangling of limbs. Dave is kind enough to pull you out. When he sets you back on the ground you can’t help but stare at where you are. You’re on a relatively narrow strip of land in what looks like a semicircular cave, each side is surrounded by lava and the walls are coated in crystals. 

“What is this place?” you ask, looking around. 

“Hal mentioned that your volcano was a way to a forge or something, maybe this is that?” Aradia suggests. 

“Either way the roof is closed now, look.” Equius notes, pointing upwards and he’s right. Whatever tube you fell down is blocked off. 

“But if we’re in the volcano that means we’re in her planet. Hal talked about my denizen being inside my planet so maybe hers lives down here.” Dave says. 

“Are you even advanced enough to see yours though, Jade? Sometimes you have to fight them, right?” Aradia asks. 

“Well if she does she won’t be alone!” Nepeta declares sweetly. 

“Guys.” Eridan says softly.

“I say we find a way out of this place.” Equius declares.

“But we have rings to melt.” Tavros points out. 

“Guys!” Eridan says, a little louder. 

“We don’t even know which way is out.” Aradia counters. 

“HEY!” Eridan says loudly and you all look at him. 

“Sorry to interrupt your dumb conversation but is that a snake over there?” he asks, pointing across the lava. There’s a huge thick lavender coil of… something over a large crystal that seems to dip back into the lava harmlessly. Further on it comes out again and eventually you can see it leading through a distant archway. 

“Not that snakes aren’t cool as heck but I don’t wanna get eaten by one. I say we go that way.” Dave says, pointing in the other direction. 

You look the way the lavender tail thing is leading instead. Your head fills with that same feeling of vastness again, a summoning deep space that begs for you to throw yourself into. 

“I’m going that way.” you breathe out and half walk and half fall towards the archway that the tail leads through. The others are calling out after you but you’re somehow getting there faster than them and no matter how hard they try to catch you it doesn’t work, it reminds you of those anxiety dreams where you’re running from something but never escape only this time it’s not you running. 

You walk through the arch, past the thick lavender tail which appears more blue at some angles. You keep walking, steady footed and the ground seems to fall away from you in all but single floating rocks. You know that you are inside a volcano and yet around you is space and stars, crystals float here and there. Whatever compelled you to walk vanishes and you find yourself standing on a rock the size of a dinner plate that floats in space. 

You turn and distantly you can see the others at the archway you came through but the way they’re leaning on the air suggests that it is stopping them passing through, like glass at the zoo. You can see the thick coil of tail there and how it passes to your right, weaving around large crystals and you follow it as you turn until you’re facing the way you were before and suddenly there’s this- this THING there. 

It’s huge, you’re maybe only the size of its face. Though, you ought to say that it’s a she because despite being devoid of arms she’s very female in the sense that an anatomically nul Barbie doll is. In fact if you ripped the arms off of a Barbie as well as the legs, then jammed the waist in a giant snake and then used that contraption to beat a crystalline hedgehog to death you’d get something that looks close to her. 

“Um, hello.” you say because you still have some manners. 

*Jade Harley, Witch of Space* comes into your brain. You can see her mouth moving but it doesn’t say that. 

“Yes, that’s me. Uh, I’m guessing you’re my denizen?” you answer. 

*I am. My name is Echidna.* she tells you. 

“Well, pleased to meet you.” you say with a nervous smile. A terrible thought comes across you and you blurt it out before you think better of it. 

“I don’t have to fight you, do I?” you ask. 

Echidna raises an eyebrow at you. 

*Do you want to?*

“Not really, I just came here because I need some rings destroyed.” you explain, holding them up for her. The very fine end of a tail comes out and prods at them. 

*I can do that.*

“That would be great, thank you!” you say brightly. 

*I need you to agree to do something for me.* slithers into your brain. 

You groan, this is how it always is in stories or movies. You find a genie or a magical creature and there’s always a catch of some kind. 

*You are displeased?*

“No, just tell me what your terms are before I agree or don’t agree to something.” you say, hands on hips. You’re no storybook hero who seems to be occasionally deeply dim just for the sake of plot progression or wacky hijinks. If you’re going to make a detail with some nonhuman mystical armless snake lady you’re not going to assume she’s-

You snicker to yourself. 

*Something funny?*

“No I just- sorry, I thought of something funny.” you say quickly. 

Echidna narrows her eyes at you and suddenly you’re wrapped in a coil of tail that isn’t currently crushing you but could. 

*Do tell.*

“I just thought that I should find out what the terms are because you’re not harmless, even though you don’t have any arms.” you say weakly. Echidna blinks at you in bafflement. 

“Because… ‘armless? I’m sorry that’s probably really offensive but-” you trail off because she’s laughing, her shoulders shaking and her mouth opening into a grin that’s full of shining needle teeth. 

*Oh, I always liked you best in every universe.*

“Uh, thanks?” you say as the tail loosens around you and your shifted to be sitting on it instead. 

*I will destroy these rings, and I will even grant you God Tier status without having to die but you must do one thing for me first. Or a series of things, I suppose.*

“Which are?” you ask. 

*The Knight of Time, Dave. I need you to make sure that he goes to Haephestus, tell him I sent him. There is a weapon that he has, that he almost never gives but he needs it. It’s called the Hand of Time.* 

“Hand like a clock hand?” you guess. 

*The very same.*

“Okay, I can do that part. Make him get a cool weapon, that’s no problem. What else?” you ask, not wanting to agree if there’s more to come that you might not agree to. 

*There is someone he needs to fight, the brother of someone you have spoken to already. His name is Lord English, though it was once Caliborn. There are rules in this game and he has broken them, he must be killed and only this weapon and Dave Strider can ensure his death.*

“Dave has to kill him?” you ask. 

*I don’t need you to ensure that, you wouldn’t be able to influence that. I need you to ensure that he fights him in order for Lord English to be defeated.*

That is some squirrely wording right there. 

“So Dave wins this fight?” you clarify. 

*If you do your job Lord English will be defeated, killed in fact.* 

That doesn’t mean Dave wins, it just means his opponent loses and dies. No mention of Dave there. 

“And what about Dave?” you continue. 

*That is all you and he need to do.*

“Does Dave survive this fight?” you ask, standing up on the tail to stare right into her blue eyes. 

*If he does not fight him, Lord English will kill him and all of you. If you do not agree to my deal these rings-* and suddenly the rings are no longer in your hand but are floating before her face out of your reach, *will find their way to the royals, to Jack Noir even. Then you will all die. If you will not help me you are no use to me alive and I will ensure your death and his too.*

You grit your teeth angrily. 

“He’s my friend, not some pawn! Tell me if he’ll die doing your mission or not!” you demand. 

*You understand physics, yes? That is important for a space player, to get the concepts at least.*

“Yes, but-” you say.

*Then you understand how a thing can be undefined. A subatomic particle can be here and not here, until you determine where it is.*

“The uncertainty principle, yeah. Knowing changes things.” you nod. This isn’t answering your dead Dave question. 

*There you go, then.* she nods. 

You open your mouth but think before you say something. Is she saying that if she tells you then it seals Dave’s fate and that perhaps he has a better chance if you don’t know? That he can determine his own fate then? He did say that his time travel took away his free will then what if this does too?

“I just have to take Dave to his denizen, get him the weapon and make sure he fights this Lord English guy?” you ask carefully. 

*That’s it.* she watches you placidly. 

You consider this. Try to think of any way around it but you can’t seem to. 

“Okay then.” you say with a nod. 

Echidna smiles and you slightly wish she wouldn’t. The rings before you burn up and the thin tip of her tail comes out and touches your forehead. 

You’re everywhere. 

You are an uncountable number of atoms. You are subatomic particles, you are the vibration as heat, the exchange of energy. You are a symphony of chemicals merging and parting again as they change state and form. You are here, before Echidna but you are elsewhere. Atoms of you are on Dave’s sleeve, on your bedsheets on the ship, air you breathed out is in your soulmate’s lungs right now. 

So you are here but you could be anywhere. The universe glows around you and it’s not music like how Dave describes time, not a steady beat. No, it’s art. It’s an unchoreographed dance of atoms around each other, bright splashes of elements surging around you like colours you’ve never seen before and could never describe. 

You blink and stare a little closer. Get down to the level where quantum mechanics really kicks in, you watch as things change simply by observing them and you really REALLY get it. You could almost decide things by making a bet where a subatomic particle really is when you observe it, when you remove the uncertainty. 

You take your view further out and take Echidna in again, the needle covered armless snake woman. 

*Keep our deal, Witch of Space.*

“I will.” you nod.

You turn around to see your friends clustered at the archway and the fabric of space between you and them feels like something you could just reach out and touch. That you could bend. You step forward, not into where you were but onto the ground behind them. 

Dave reacts first whirling around to stare at you. 

“Jade! Did you- did she kill you? You’re god tier!” he exclaims. 

“No, no, she destroyed the rings and boosted me up without me having to die.” you assure him. 

“I’m so glad, we were really worried.” Nepeta says, her voice wobbly and you can’t help but note the olive tinged tears at the edges of her eyes and clinging to her lashes. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you all. But it’s done now! No more rings!” you say cheerfully. 

“Well that is something at least.” Tavros nods. 

“But what did she want in return for all that? No one gives you something for nothing.” Dave says suspiciously. 

“I have to give you a sword and some other stuff, take you to your denizen. Not right now I don’t mean but, you know, later.” you explain. You’ll tell him about the fight in private. 

“As good as that is to hear how do we get out of here? The way in is blocked.” Equius points out. 

You look up at the rock blocking the path you fell down. Your eyes drift a little and you start watching the dance of tiny particles again, it’s like a fun game seeing what kind of quirky things they’ll do. Or- hah,  _ quarky things _ ! It reminds you of those little paper toys you’d made when you were really little, you’d fold them this way and that and then demand that Jake pick a colour, then a number, then you’d read him something under the little flaps. 

This could be just like that. If the particles do  _ this _ you’ll find a way to fly them out, if they do  _ that _ you’ll teleport them yourself! It’s like Echidna’s deal, the not knowing gives Dave the chance to make sure the outcome he gets is the one he wants. 

A chill creeps into your bones. She hadn’t actually said that,  _ you’d thought it _ . The not knowing changes things, yes, but what if it doesn’t change the outcome but rather whether you made the deal at all? If Echidna had told you that this deal would kill Dave you’d never have agreed but with not knowing you had. But that doesn’t mean he will, surely? It means he could. Millions of things could kill Dave at any second. A rock could fall from the cave roof here and brain him, he could have choked on lunch, a huge number of things. 

You didn’t just…

There’s no way you just made a deal that will demand Dave’s death.

...Right? 


End file.
